Day 264 Mallets

August 30, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every
day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

It wasn’t the ride to the Eastern Shore, smooth
sailing with little traffic. It wasn’t time on the beach with two Belarusian
women who had never met any ocean. It wasn’t the walk on the beach, with the
roar of the ocean waves and the skittering piping plovers. It wasn’t the walk on
the boardwalk with sounds and smells stirring up senses from my childhood. It
wasn’t the steamed crabs.

All these things were enjoyable, but the best thing
today was a crab feast with daughter Lauren, son-in-law Matt and our two
Belarusian visitors in Ocean City. We met Lauren and Matt as they docked their
boat at Captain’s Galley and instructed granddoggie Roxy to hold down the ship.

Kate and Regina had never eaten Maryland steamed
crabs, and Matt kept asking if they knew what they were getting into.
Lauren laughed as she envisioned their reactions to brown paper for a tablecloth
and wooden mallets instead of proper silverware.

The steamed crabs arrived and Kate and Regina
received instructions on how to eat their dinner. Matt asked them questions
about their country, Lauren laughed joyfully and David made silly jokes. As it
turned out, these Belarusians were very smart and caught on to the Maryland
tradition of devouring steamed crabs. We all washed down our meal with two
pitchers of beer.

No, it wasn’t the crab feast that was the gift, but
rather the catalyst that the spicy crustaceans created for a fun time. It was
the laughter, friendship and pure joy that were the gift.